Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the ostensible structural deterioration of the socio-economic position of the South African maize producers since the start of the eighties as a consequence of the low and erratic rainfall, the relatively high cost of finance, the worsening terms of trade of the industry and the secular decline in the real price of maize on the world market. The constant pressure of the four factors on the profit position of the maize industry compelled producers to pay less attention to the maintenance of soil fertility, technology and the remuneration and training of their workers. The need to succumb to exploitative practices in order to survive became a strong feature of the industry since the late eighties when the potential for the further improvement of productivity by economising on fertilizer and other inputs and using capital assets such as tractors and harvesters more intensively had run its course.
The South African maize producer is faced by an adverse production or cost function,
mainly as a consequence of the very erratic climatic and poor soil, environment in which he is finding himself. The grain producing industries all over the world are still closely governed by soil and climatic conditions, compared to the meat, dairy, poultry and horticultural industries, which have increasingly assumed characteristics of manufacturing industry. Technological developments in the grain industries such as hybridisation and the advent of the modern fertilizers, weed and pest herbicides and the tractor and mechanical harvester did not free the industry from the constraints imposed on it by the poor South African soils and erratic weather patterns. The production of grain, especially maize, is still subject to the cost constraint imposed by the law of decreasing returns. Co-incidental to the difficult production function is the more pronounced tendency of production to fluctuate and the growing disparity between supply and demand, not only in the South African market, but globally. This behaviour as well 'as the price support measures, by especially the USA and the European Union, are responsible for the constant weakening of the terms of trade of the industry and the secular decline of the global real maize prize.